s manage...star-ghana quarterly report (october – december 2016) 4 star-ghana 2016 executive...

Quarterly Report

October – December 2016

s Manage

December, 2016

STAR-Ghana Quarterly Report (October – December 2016)

2 STAR-Ghana 2016

Contents Abbreviations & Acronyms ................................................................................................................... 3

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 4

1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 4

2.0 Status of Implementation of Workplan ...................................................................................... 4

2.1 Updating Implementation phase strategies ........................................................................... 5

2.2 Scoping and launching of Calls ................................................................................................ 5

2.3 Implementation of Elections Calls projects ............................................................................. 6

2.4 Operationalising 3CL approach ............................................................................................... 6

2.5 Programme Governance and Transition ................................................................................. 6

2.6 Programme management ....................................................................................................... 6

3.0 Summary of Results achieved ..................................................................................................... 7

3.1 Progress against Logframe ..................................................................................................... 7

3.2 Off-Logframe Results ............................................................................................................ 10

4.0 Finance and Grants ................................................................................................................... 13

4.1 Overall Budget Performance ................................................................................................. 13

4.2 Finance .................................................................................................................................. 13

4.3 Grants .................................................................................................................................... 15

5.0 Programme Operations ............................................................................................................ 16

6.0 Governance ............................................................................................................................... 16

7.0 Key Lessons and Recommendations ......................................................................................... 17

10.0 Key Priorities for next Quarter .................................................................................................. 18

11.0 Annexes ..................................................................................................................................... 18


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Abbreviations & Acronyms

3CL Convening, Coordinating, Catalysing and Learning AWLA African Women’s Lawyers’ Association

CA Christian Aid

CAID Christian Aid

CBO(s) Community Based Organisation(s)

COP Communities of Practice

COPL Communities of Practice and Learning

CSO(s) Civil Society Organisations

DANIDA Danish International Development Agency

DFID Department for International Development

EC Electoral Commission

EU European Union

FAT-A Financial Accountability Trust, Africa

FC Funders’ Committee

GACC Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition

GBC Ghana Broadcasting Corporation

GBC Ghana Broadcasting Corporation

GBP Great British Pounds

GESI Gender Equality and Social Inclusion

GFD Ghana Federation for Disability Organisation

GP(s) Grant Partner(s)

GTAG GESI technical Advisory Group

IA Independent Assessors

IDEG Institute for Democratic Governance

IDEG-CIF Institute for Democratic Governance – Civic Initiative Forum

LRC Legal Resources Centre

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

MDAs Ministries Departments and Agencies

NCCE National Commission for Civic Education

NCS National Catholic Secretariat

PEA Political Economy Analysis

PMT Programme Management Team

PWD Persons With Disability

SC Steering Committee

SDD Social Development Direct

SMS Short Messaging System

SP(s) Service Provider(s)

TOR Terms of Reference

VFM Value for Money


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Executive Summary The reporting period covers the first quarter post the Inception phase. The focus of activities were

therefore on

finalisation of the strategies developed during inception based on feedback received;

the operationalization of these strategies developed;

supporting implementation of the 38 Elections call projects, particularly those of which were in the

last quarter of their implementation; and,

Scoping the issues, developing processes and launching of the Media and Gender Equality and

Social Inclusion (GESI) calls; and

Given the fact that the quarter under review is the first quarter in Year1 of the Implementation phase,

progress has been largely around

putting in place and testing strategies for increasing voice and participation of excluded social

groups in governance and access to services;

piloting approaches to the operationalization of the programme’s Convening, Catalysing,

Coordination and Learning (3CL)strategic framework. Pilot convenings have been around illegal

small-scale mining, also known as ‘galamsey’ and land grabbing;

catalysing citizens’ actions, through the Elections call projects, to achieve credible, peaceful and

inclusive elections. Grant partners have

o organised debates at national and constituency levels for Presidential and parliamentary

candidates;

o engaged with state and non-state actors to address potential conflicts;

o increased the accountability of Election Management Bodies to the citizens of Ghana;

o advocated for strategies and policies to make the elections and electoral processes more

inclusive of the voices and participation of all groups of citizens; and,

Key lessons learned have been around engagements between civil society and state actors around

the elections, strategies for sustainably strengthening the technical competencies of CSOs and

strategies for reaching and supporting smaller and remotely located CSOs.

1.0 Introduction This report covers the three-month period October to December 2016. It coincided with the immediate

post-inception period when the Programme Management Team (PMT) and consortium partners

worked to finalise programme implementation strategies and their roll-out.

The report focuses on the status of implementation of key priorities in the approved programme

workplan, key outputs achieved and implementation priorities for the next quarter covering the period

January 2017 to March 2017. It also includes a section on key lessons learned and a financial and

grants update.

2.0 Status of Implementation of Workplan A detailed status report on the Year 1 workplan is attached as Annex 1. Overall, the programme was

on track with the implementation of planned activities, with more than 80% of these having been

achieved.

The focus was on:

updating implementation phase strategies to take account of feedback received from key

stakeholders;

scoping and launching the Media and Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) calls;

supporting the implementation of the Elections Call projects;


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testing approaches to operationalizing the programme’s 3CL approach1; and

programme management.

2.1 Updating Implementation phase strategies Political economy analysis (PEA) report: The PMT received additional feedback on the draft report at

a meeting of DFID’s governance programmes in Ghana. The plan to finalise the report at a

stakeholders’ workshop did not materialise due to challenges with key participants’ availability. As a

result, the consultant will finalise and submit the report in the second week of January 2017.

Value for Money (VfM) strategy: In response to the extensive comments on the draft strategy,

MANGO (the consortium partner leading on this workstream) is expected to submit a revised draft by

the end of January 2017 for approval by the SC and DFID.

Logframe and Theory of Change: These have been finalised and submitted to DFID. The revised

drafts were signed off by the SC.

Programme Transition and Roadmap: The SC has developed a plan for revising the Road Map in

consultation with other stakeholders. This includes the setting up of an informal group of ‘critical

thinkers’ to advise on it and provide constructive and critical feedback on the proposed process. The

advisory group will be meeting in January 2017 to feedback on the Roadmap prior to its finalisation

and implementation. The membership of the committee is attached as Annex 2. The consortium

have also established a monthly review meeting for this work stream and developed a detailed work

plan for agreement with/discussion with the SC and a draft case statement to be submitted to the SC

in January 2017.

2.2 Scoping and launching of Calls

A decision was taken by the SC during the Inception phase to launch two calls for proposals in Year 1

of the Implementation phase, focusing on GESI and the Media. A broad framework to guide the

process was developed by the PMT and approved by the SC (Annex 3). Following this, the PMT

implemented a number of parallel processes to scope and launch the two calls. As at the end of the

reporting period, the calls had been launched for submission of applicants. Ten (10) Independent

Assessors (IAs) were identified by the PMT and approved by the SC. The IAs will be contracted in

January 2017.

GESI Call: The following activities were implemented during the period

Implementation of a Scoping Study to identify possible entry points and issues around which

the call could be developed. Report attached as Annex 4;

Calls developed and advertised, Annex 5;

Guidance Notes for applicants and assessors developed (Annex 6);

Information sessions held in all ten regional capitals to provide opportunities for interested

organisations to seek clarification on the call and its processes and templates;

Assessment templates developed for both the Small grants and Strategic components of the

Call (Annex 7);

Media Call: Activities implemented under the Media Call largely mirrored those for the GESI call,

except for the under-mentioned:

A desk study was undertaken by an external consultant and the findings validated at a small

group meeting of key resource persons. See Scoping study and Validation meeting reports

attached as Annex 8.

The two components of the call have been advertised (Annex 9).

Guidance notes for applicants (Annex 10) and assessors have been developed. Annex 11.

1 Convening, Catalysing, Coordinating and Learning


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2.3 Implementation of Elections Calls projects

The PMT continued during the period to support the implementation of the Elections call projects. Key

activities implemented include:

Monitoring visits to all 38 projects by combined teams of Finance, Grants and Monitoring and

Evaluation (M&E) staff. Review and feedback on the second quarter reports of grant partners

by the Finance and M&E teams;

Day to day implementation support to partners as needed.

2.4 Operationalising 3CL approach The PMT supported the SC to initiate processes to pilot approaches aimed at operationalizing the

3CL framework.

Land grabbing and illegal mining, also known as ‘galamsey’ were recommended and

subsequently approved by the SC as issues for testing the 3CL approach. A draft discussion

paper is attached as Annex 12;

A working group, comprising stakeholders including the Lands Commission, the Ghana

Trades Union Congress, Citi FM, the Association of Small-scale miners and civil society

organisations (CSOs) active on mining, land rights and environmental issues has been

constituted and is chaired by a member of the SC;

The committee met twice during the reporting period and agreed a process for the other key

elements of the strategy. This includes:

o The commissioning of a PEA on mining, focusing on the small scale and informal

mining sectors to provide a better understanding of the sector and its dynamics;

o A series of regional convenings to discuss the report, gain deeper insight on the

regional perspectives and begin the process of brokering relationships among

stakeholders to address specific regional aspects of the issue;

o A national roundtable to pull together the outcomes of the regional conversations and

agreeing courses of action.

The learning from the pilot will feed into the refinement of the overall approach.

2.5 Programme Governance and Transition

The SC held three meetings during the period, a regular meeting in October and two special meetings

in November and December. The October meeting focused on overall programme management and

the Inception phase deliverables while the others were devoted specifically to the transition to a

national organisation and the associated Roadmap.

The bi-monthly meetings of the Christian Aid consortium took place as planned.

Regular communications took place between Christian Aid and DFID, although these have not been

properly regularised yet pending resolution of the overall governance arrangements.

2.6 Programme management

Key activities undertaken include:

An audit of the programme by Christian Aid internal audit;

Recruitments of GESI and Capacity Building Manager, Parliament Support Manager and

Governance Advisor. Interviews were conducted for the GESI Manager position and an offer

has been made to the most suitable candidate. Applicants have been shortlisted for the

positions of Parliamentary Support manager and Governance advisor and these interviews

will be conducted in the next quarter.


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3.0 Summary of Results achieved This section has been divided into two, progress against the logframe Outputs and indicators; and

progress in other areas not captured directly or in their entirety in the logframe and its Outputs or

indicators.

3.1 Progress against Logframe

Output 1: STAR-Ghana providing effective convener, coordinator and catalyst (CCC) role

Programme activities for Output 1 during the reporting period focused primarily on fine-tuning the 3CL

strategy and framework. It also tested the approach, through a number of pilot activities. Key results

achieved during the period include:

a- The issues of land grabbing and the environmental effects of illegal mining have been put on

the front-burner of national conversations. These conversations were started on a small scale

by Citi FM and Caritas, but through the subsequent involvement of STAR-Ghana which used

its resources and credibility to convene a discussions involving many more stakeholders, the

issues are beginning to gain traction;

b- The scoping study for the GESI call used to create spaces on issues of exclusion across the

regions, potentially facilitating alliances among participants to take the recommendations

forward, with or without STAR-Ghana’s direct involvement;

c- Three stakeholder committees have been set up to drive the national conversations on land

grabbing, illegal mining and media reforms. The setting up of these committees will ensure

broad ownership, beyond STAR-Ghana of the processes and outcomes of the dialogues.

d- The Learning Event organized by STAR-Ghana enhanced networking with other grant partners who

have been instrumental in the implementation of activities for this quarter. The report on the learning event highlighted the areas of cooperation and collaboration participants had identified and agreed to work on even without STAR-Ghana involvement.

Output 2: Effective strategic partnerships in place with policy level organisations (MDAs, Sector

Ministries and Political Parties) and parliament

i- The process towards developing strategic partnerships is well under way. Two calls targeting

policy level organisations were issued during the review period. It is expected that the strategic

partnerships will be in place by the end of the next quarter.

ii- The partnership with Parliament was delayed by the parliamentary elections in December in

2016. The PMT used the period to commission a study into the effectiveness of Parliament as an

institution and of members of Parliament. The study was undertaken in partnership with Odekro,

a CSO which works primarily using social media. The findings and recommendations of the study

are expected to provide entry points for the development STAR-Ghana’s partnership with

Parliament.

iii- The programme, through the elections call, brokered partnerships between its grant partners and

relevant state actors to contribute towards achieving credible, inclusive and peaceful elections.

The key state actors involved in these partnerships include

the Ghana Police Service: with Blogging Ghana and the African Women’s Lawyers’

Association (AWLA);

the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE): with NORSAAC, the Ghana

Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and

the Judicial Service: with Legal Resources Centre

Electoral Commission: Ghana Federation for Disability Organisation, IDEG-CIF

Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection: Abantu for Development

iv- Support to, and partnerships with, District Assemblies and sector ministries will be linked to the

work of the strategic partners (who will be identified under the GESI and Media Calls) and

therefore this was not fully pursued during the period.


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Output 3: STAR-Ghana funding mechanisms effectively managed, helping projects to address locally

salient issues (Expected outcomes)

The grants calls are the main mechanisms for STAR-Ghana funding of stakeholder actions on salient

issues. To date, the Elections call has been the only call under which projects are being implemented.

a- To ensure that the call responded to national and locally salient issues, a three-step approach

was adopted. These processes helped ensure that all the 38 projects funded were relevant to and

contributed to addressing local and nationally salient issues.

Two technical papers were commissioned to scope and identify issues around which the

call could be developed;

A national roundtable involving all major election stakeholders, including parliament,

CSOs and election management bodies such as the NCCE, Police and the EC;

The development of assessment criteria to ensure that only proposals which responded

to the issues identified were funded, including ensuring that the elections were inclusive

of the active participation of all groups of citizens;

b- The projects ended in December 2016 and an external review of the projects will be

commissioned in January 2017. The review will help to assess the extent to which these projects

contributed to the achievement of credible, peaceful and inclusive elections.

c- The PMT undertook two quarterly monitoring visits to all grant partners to help ensure that the

grants were being effectively managed and contributing to the achievement of the objectives of

the election call. The visits found that overall all projects were on track to achieve their objectives

and there were no significant issues regarding grants management.

d- Output 4: STAR-Ghana established as a Ghanaian owned, strategic and sustainable Institution

Against the two logframe indicators for this Output, progress has not been significant but is

satisfactory against milestone indicators. This is because the

finalisation of the Roadmap took longer than expected and the

discussions between DFID and the SC on the SC TOR took

attention away, for a period, from the Roadmap.

Indicator 2, which focuses on the capacity of the Ghanaian

institution to undertake its functions, will be realised in the latter

stages of the transition process and therefore there is no significant

progress to report.

However, the following actions were taken during the period:

The Transition Roadmap was finalised by the SC and will

guide the SC’s engagement with stakeholders in the

subsequent reporting periods;

A strategy has been agreed for refreshing the membership

of the SC. This strategy was validated with heads of the

funding agencies;

A consortium partner, SDD, developed a number of

guidance documents to support the transition to and

establishment of the national entity. These documents

were reported in the End of Inception report submitted in

October 2016.

Bawku an ethnic conflict

prone zone enjoys peace

before, during, and after the

election. BEWDA facilitated

the formation of the Bawku

Inter Ethnic Peace Committee.

Leaders from the various

contending ethnic groups

engaged each other and

jointly organised community

events such as football

matches, radio discussions

involving members from

diverse ethnic groupings

enhanced tolerance within

Bawku.


9 STAR-Ghana 2016

Output 5: Communities of Practice and Learning (COPL) established, functioning effectively and

learning for change

Progress, during the period, towards the achievement of the

Output includes:

a- The strategy for the SC convening on land grabbing and

‘galamsey’ has been conceptualised also as a learning

platform for the stakeholders. Thus, an iterative process of

expanding the range of stakeholders participating in the

meetings has been adopted and this should culminate in a

CoP to be hosted by one of the stakeholders.

b- In addition to the formalised learning events and spaces,

the programme has also supported GPs to develop

informal alliances, networks and collaborations to share

learning and explore synergies in the implementation of

their projects. The Election 2016 Partners WhatsApp

group created by GACC at the STAR-Ghana GPs

Learning Event in July continues to be active. It has been

used to disseminate information; solicit ideas and inputs

on their projects and share learning from the

implementation of their projects. The relationships

established through these informal collaborations provided

a basis for future engagements similar to a CoP, with or

without STAR-Ghana support.

c- The SMS platform presents an innovative approach to

Citizens’ engagement with State Partners by means of

technology. During the pilot of the SMS voices platform two learning questions were identified

which will be addressed as STAR Ghana progresses. The questions are as follows; 1) To what

extent is the SMS technology relevant to citizen and state partners’ engagement in Ghana? 2)

What are the factors affecting the use of SMS technology in citizen’s state partners engagement?


10 STAR-Ghana 2016

3.2 Off-Logframe Results

Communication

The key priorities for the quarter under review focused on the website tender, the programme brand

and visibility, communications support to Grant Partners and support to the launch of the Media and

GESI calls. This support came in different forms which are further explained in the sections below.

Website, Tender and Redesign

A Website Developer has been selected following a rigorous tender process to redesign the Phase 1

website. Dream Oval was finally selected out of 8 applicants invited to submit full proposals. Early in

the next quarter, the current website, and all sub-sites, will be reviewed and redesigned with a content

management system that is optimised for digital devices and social media.

The Programme’s social media pages particularly Facebook and Twitter continue to provide up to

date information about the programme. During the period under review, a total of 121,684 and

165,377 people were reached on Twitter and Facebook respectively. Twitter generated 508 new

followers whereas Facebook received 116 “Likes”.

Programme Brand and Visibility

The quarter under review saw STAR-Ghana in the spotlight largely for the role its partners played in

the run-up to the elections. STAR-Ghana and its partners received extensive media coverage and

media acknowledgement for their support to the elections process (See Media Tracking Sheet

Attached as Annex 13). Key among these partners have been the Ghana Broadcasting

Corporation’s Ghana Wins elections 2016 project, TV3’s Mission Ghana and Eye on the Seat

projects, Globe Productions’ ‘I can’t think far’ project just to name a few. Though the programme

received extensive visibility during the period, a few branding challenges were encountered. A

President Mahama Participates in GBC’s Presidential Encounters a component of Ghana Wins Election 2016


11 STAR-Ghana 2016

number of partners did not properly acknowledge or credit STAR-Ghana as required. In some

instances, the roles of the programme donors were not properly acknowledged and also the wrong

logos were used.

Publicity

A programme flier Annex 14 and brief

documentary of the STAR-Ghana programme

was developed in the quarter. The programme

through its support to Globe Productions ‘I can’t

think far’ plays reached diverse stakeholders that

the programme will not ordinarily have reached.

The effects of this are far reaching as STAR-

Ghana and its message were received well by

the audience at the plays which was showed in 5

regions. A total of eleven thousand, nine-hundred

and twenty-eight (11928) persons were reached.

Regional breakdown are as follows: Accra: 3961;

Tamale: 2363; Takoradi; 2217; Ho: 1984;

Kumasi: 1403.

Launch of GESI and Media Calls

Communications support to the GESI and Media Calls for proposals included advertisements in the

national newspapers, radio announcements, press releases, social media and websites update with

relevant call information and documentation as well as the design of the online application system to

ease the application process. Information sessions were for the first time held in all 10 regional

capitals of the country to ensure that access was given to remotely located and smaller CSOs and

CBOs in the regions to participate in the sessions. A total of 614; (made up of 437 men and 177

women) prospective applicants participated in the information sessions across the country.

The table below shows the breakdown of participation.

Table 1: Regional Representation of Participants in the Information Sessions

‘I Can’t Think Far’: A Play on Anger Management for

Peaceful Electoral Outcomes


12 STAR-Ghana 2016

A Hotline was also dedicated to addressing applicant questions, issues

and concerns to enhance the applications process. This built trust in the

system as applicants were at all times able to reach a PMT member who

could explain their issues. In instances where this was not possible PMT

members ensured that the appropriate officers were contacted for further

clarifications.

Learning

A detailed CoPL workplan was developed (Annex 15) following a workshop

that helped the PMT to better understand the COPL framework and define

learning.

Knowledge Management

The quarter under review has seen significant improvements in the online

reporting and application systems. The online reporting system has been

upgraded with additional functionality making it user friendly for use

between STAR-Ghana and GPs during the reporting periods. The system

serves as a knowledge management tool enabling the M&E team to

determine at all times any outstanding documentation or information that is

required.

The Online application system was also reviewed in the last quarter to

make it more user friendly. This significantly reduced the number of

complaints received and challenges faced by applicants based on the

learning from the Elections call application process.

Implementation of COPL

In November, Social Development Direct (SDD) supported the PMT to

develop a detailed implementation plan for STAR-Ghana’s learning

platform (Communities of Practice and Learning – CoPL). The planning

process was focused on the development of detailed plans for Year 1 of

implementation and outline of indicative plans for Year 2 (attached as

Annex 16). The process included consultative meetings with teams leading

on the various work streams of STAR-Ghana, a consultation with the GESI

Technical Advisory Group (GTAG), and a one-day planning workshop with

the PMT on how to take the CoPL forward in the next quarter.

SMS Platform

The SMS Voices platform was piloted with the December 2016 presidential

and parliamentary elections in Ghana. Representatives of the Electoral

Commission (EC), National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) and

the Ghana Police at the district level of Governance were registered onto

the platform in six Districts across three (3) regions of Ghana. Citizens –

including PWDs, through trained field rapporteurs were also registered on

the platform to engage representatives of the state institutions indicated

above.

A total of 49 participants were engaged over the implementation period,

comprising 29 citizen representatives (rapporteurs) and 20 representatives

of state partners (EC, NCCE, and the Police). 191 issues were reported in

Benefits of SMS Voices

Platform to State Partners

The SMS Voices platform

supported State partners in the

delivery of their work in a

number of ways. State Partners

had the following to say when

contacted for their feedback few

days after the elections:

“Reports received were

beneficial especially the last

report. We recommend that it

could be spread out in the

municipality (increase the

number of rapporteurs). We

would be grateful if

rapporteurs continue to report

issues to us via the platform for

evidence too” Sergeant Haruna

Dauda, Ghana Police,

Ashaiman.

“We had dual messages coming

in which strengthened our

collaboration with the other

duty bearers especially the EC”

Sergeant Christian Ankam,

Ghana Police, Nzema East.

“It was great interacting in real

time (not physical presence)

with citizens. Wished more

reports could have come

through for us” Kwasi

Blankson, NCCE, Ezema East.

“The reports were very useful to

us especially issues pertaining

to accessibility of polling

station to PWDs. It helped us to

address some for example

Adabiya Islamic School polling

station at Ayawaso East, those

that we could not address were

as a result of late reporting. We

have however taken notice of

them and we will make those

places accessible in subsequent

elections” Abdul Rashid,

Electoral Officer, Ayawaso Sub-

Metros.


13 STAR-Ghana 2016

total. Rapporteurs were relatively more satisfied (97%) with feedback from state partners compared to

state partners’ satisfaction (70%) on the relevance of the issues received. (See Annex 16 for full

report). Key issues reported by rapporteurs and addressed by state partners included but not limited

to the following: Voter apathy, Early warning security threats, and Accessibility of polling stations

among PWDs.

Key issues reported by rapporteurs and addressed by the NCCE centred on voter apathy. The

Akutuase Youth Association in Wassa East for example, through the SMS voices platform invited

the NCCE to educate the youth in that community on their rights and responsibilities as voters.

The Youth had earlier expressed their indifference to the entire electoral process.

The Police addressed issues focussed on early warning security threats, pockets of violence and

the absence of security personnel at some polling stations. The Police for example deployed two

security personnel to the Father Graham polling station in the Nzema East District, after a

rapporteur had reported the issue for response.

The platform has documentary evidence of the Police in Ashaiman following up and reprimanding

a brother of a parliamentary candidate who was reported by a rapporteur for campaigning on

Election Day.

The EC addressed issues of accessibility of polling stations among PWDs, missing names in the

voters’ register especially during special voting, late arrival of voting materials as well as isolated

cases of disagreements on the positioning of voting booth/screen boxes.

4.0 Finance and Grants

4.1 Overall Budget Performance

4.2 Finance Grant Disbursement

During the first quarter of the year under review about GBP 881k was transferred to Election Call

Grant Partners. In total about GBP 2.3m has been transferred as Election call grant since the

Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter4 Total Actual* Variance

Management Fees & Expenses

Management Fee 4,666,329 224,812 254,604 265,803 261,840 1,007,059 206,390 18,422 8%

Travel /Daily living 448,318 12,180 16,650 21,068 25,862 75,760 10,406 1,774 15%

Equipment 203,025 8,300 2,000 4,000 5,528 19,828 9,828 (1,528) -18%

Office 963,616 42,298 35,168 37,338 34,188 148,992 41,412 886 2%

Learning, capacity building-inception only 4,796

Steering committee-inception only 2,145

Communication-inception only 13,411

Professional fees/ others 267,269 6,000 43,074 21,225 70,299 861 (861) #DIV/0!

Sub total -Management Fees & Expenses 6,568,909 287,590 314,422 371,284 348,642 1,321,937 268,897 18,693 6%

Deduction for PBR (584,814) (62,137) 62,137- (62,137) (62,137) (248,546) (62,137) 0 0%

PBR 584,814 110,335 58,481 168,816 0 #DIV/0!

Total -Management Fees & Expenses 6,568,909 225,454 362,620 309,147 344,987 1,242,208 206,760 18,694 8%

Grant & Programme Expenses

Grant -Direct to Partners 11,974,590 914,997 40,000 936,333 748,333 2,639,663 916,915 (1,918) 0%

Support to Grant making process 1,953,959 66,076 246,304 96318 37028 445,726 46,543 19,533 30%

Sub -Grants & other related costs 13,928,549 981,073 286,304 1,032,651 785,361 3,085,389 963,458 17,615 2%

Communication 102,574 2,043 14,050 2,400 2,400 20,893 1,493 550 27%

Learning, capacity building 801,414 68,588 43,510 61,000 58,112 231,210 65,477 3,111 5%

Steering committee 387,255 3,310 8,200 7,300 8,500 27,310 2,699 611 18%

Technical advisors 1,113,277 67,869 61,102 72,067 64,186 265,223 52,746 15,123 22%

Total Grant & Programme Expenses 16,333,068 1,122,883 413,166 1,175,418 918,559 3,630,026 1,085,873 37,010 3%

Grand Total 22,901,977 1,348,337 775,786 1,484,565 1,263,546 4,872,234 1,292,633 55,704 4%

%Row Labels5 Year

Budget

Year 2 Budget Quarter 1


14 STAR-Ghana 2016

inception of STAR Programme. There will be a few more transfers to Grant Partners whose project

would continue till about the middle of the year 2017.

We anticipate refunds from a few Grant Partners and the processes for opening an account for these

refunds are almost completed.

Inception report updates (Finance & Budgets)

Revision and adjustment were made to the various annexes to the inception report based on

comments from DFID.

The Proforma Invoice has been resubmitted and accepted by DFID

Grant Allocation has been revised and yet to be submitted to DFID

Detailed Budget for the 5-year period has been revised and about to be submitted to DFID

Monitoring Visit and support to Grant Partners

During the quarter under review about 80% of the 38 Election Call Grant Partners were visited.

Activities undertaken during the visit included:

Verification of expenditures

Verification of assets

Checking for compliance

Financial Management Support to Grant Partners in internal controls, financial reporting etc.

Monitoring reports have been prepared and filed

End of Project Closure

Most of the Election Call Projects especially for the media and open components ended December

2016. We have started putting the processes in place to close the project by the end of January 2017

in line with the Grant Agreement signed with the Partners.

DFID organised Partner Workshop

STAR Ghana was invited to a one-day DFID Partner workshop. The Head of Finance and Head of

Programmes represented the Programme. Key topics discussed included:

Forecasting

Asset & Expenditure verification

Value for Money

Fraud and Corruption

Duty of Care

Communication & Branding

GESI & MEDIA Calls

GESI and Media Calls were launched in the quarter. Finance supported in the preparation and design

of applicant’s templates and documentations. Information sessions were organised across the

country and the finance team were on board to provide the necessary finance related support and

information to help interested applicants navigate their way through the application process. We

anticipate starting the processes of disbursement of funds latest by mid-April 2017


15 STAR-Ghana 2016

4.3 Grants

Grant Partners under the election call completed their third quarter of implementation after

disbursement of funds was made to them to enable them implement their planned activities under the

various thematic areas.

Election Call update

All Elections Call GPs received their third quarter tranches during the reporting period amounting to

GBP 76,063.83.

In addition, DFID provided a supplementary budget of GBP 225,000, which was disbursed to a

number of organisations, including two new GPs. The list of beneficiaries of the supplementary grant

budget is attached as Annex 17.

29 out of the 38 Elections Calls projects ended in December 2017. The PMT has commenced project

closure procedures with the relevant GPs. This includes the submission of a combined third quarter

and End-of-project report, project audits and an external review of the Elections Call. All these will be

conducted in January 2017.

Five of the Elections Call projects, which were funded the Strategic component, are ongoing and will

end between March and December 2017. The specific projects are FATA (Facilitating Political Parties

Financing in Ghana Project), IMANI (Proliferation of new districts and constituencies in Ghana), IDEG

(Strategic Actions for Transformative Elections and Reforms in Ghana), LRC (Consolidating the

Electoral Justice System in Ghana) and NCS (Forum for Actions on Inclusion, Transparency and

harmony (faith) in Ghana’s 2016 elections)

As indicated in preceding sections, the PMT made field visits to all Grant Partners to assess the

financial and programme management systems and procedures and also to interact with project

beneficiaries and collaborators. This also provided an opportunity for the PMT to offer capacity

support to some of the Partners and also to validate their work.

Launch of Media and GESI Call

This has already been reported in preceding sections.

GBC Undertakes Mock Voting Exercise for its beneficiary communities


16 STAR-Ghana 2016

5.0 Programme Operations The programme operations during the quarter carried out the under listed task;

Operations Manual

Work on the development of the Operations manual is complete and ready for review and sign-

off.

Assets Register

All the new equipments procured during the period were recorded in the assets register. The

updated assets inventory register is attached as Annex 18. We made sure that new assets

acquired were clearly labelled and identified with the UKAid logo while also ensuring that the

assets are well maintained and used solely for the purpose of the programme.

Recruitment

Interviews for the GESI and CB Manager position were held in December. An offer was made and

accepted by the successful candidate and she will join the team in Mid-February 2017.

Recruitment for remaining key posts is ongoing and expected to be completed by March 2017.

Recruitment for the following posts will take place early in the New Year: Parliamentary Support

Manager, Programme Finance Officer, GESI Support Officer, Accountability Advisor and the

Head of Programmes

Staff Performance Reviews

Performance and development begins when new Staff joins STAR-Ghana. Staff are required to

create a performance agreement as part of probation. Staff that joined six months ago have

successfully completed their probation. A mid-year review occurred between October and

December for existing staff, and an end-of-year review will occur between April and June 2017.

Monthly one-on-one meetings are conducted with line managers to continuously plan and monitor

progress against initial work plans, review and assess performance on delivery of objectives and

demonstration of competencies.

Steering Committee Meetings

The Steering Committee met on October 6th, 2016 to review the inception phase report.

The Steering Committee also met on November 17th, 2016 to finalise the road map for

transitioning to a nationally owned institution.

Administration Logistics & IT Operations

Ensured that the day-to-day operations of the office run smoothly.

Ensured that all operational tasks and activities were managed in a timely fashion and

milestones met.

Met administrative/logistical, IT and programme support needs.

Managed contracts between the Programme and all service providers

Ensured compliance with policies and procedures

Supervised and coordinated the activities of programme support staff ensuring their effective

contribution towards meeting programme objectives

6.0 Governance As reported in preceding sections of this report, the main governance bodies of the programme,

namely the SC, FC and Consortium, have held their regular meetings and have had two joint

meetings.


17 STAR-Ghana 2016

The Terms of Reference (ToR) of the SC are yet to be finalised following the SC’s rejection of parts of

a revised ToR developed by the FC. It is expected the two versions of the ToRs will be reconciled at

the next joint governance bodies’ meeting in January 2017.

A representative of the service provider, or the Programme Director, used to be invited to participate

in some sessions of FC meetings. This has ceased to be the case in this second phase of the

programme. It is recommended, giving the opportunity it provides for dialogue and for the FC to

receive inputs to inform their deliberations, that the invitation to the SP/PMT is restored. Regular

informal contact has taken place between CA and DFID (and the SC) but a more regularised formal

meeting needs to take place, as has been proposed.

Consortium coordination meetings have been held on a regular basis and a workshop for the

consortium is planned early 2017 in Accra.

7.0 Key Lessons and Recommendations 7.1 Lessons Learnt

Programme Transition and governance:

Activities around the transition have been affected by the fact that the SC is made up of part-

time members who are also busy with their ‘day jobs’ and therefore not able to devote enough

time in between meetings for follow-up on plans. This challenge was compounded by the fact

that the PMT focus was more on the programmatic aspect of STAR-Ghana during the

inception phase. Moving forward the TORs for the SC need to be agreed (including the issue

of SC compensation, which has been discussed in the past) and a better understanding of the

expectations of the SC and the inputs available from the SP consortium worked out. ;.

Conversations which have now commenced between SP/SC and Heads of FC should

progress this in the first quarter of 2017.

SC members participated in the information sessions organised around the GESI and Media

calls and used the occasions to discuss with participants issues around the future of STAR-

Ghana and the sustainability of the civil society sector. It is recommended that the SC and

PMT explore ways in which the dialogue with stakeholders can be combined with ‘normal’

programme events and activities.

Grants and grants-making

The PMT held information meetings in all ten regional capitals for the Media and GESI calls.

While expensive in terms of costs and quite taxing for the PMT, the coverage of the

information sessions provided opportunities for many more organisations to be involved than

would otherwise have been the case;

The three-stage approach to developing calls, comprising a scoping study, a stakeholders’

roundtable discussion on the scoping and a resource persons’ person to review the issues

and call strategy, has proven very useful especially as the programme seeks to identify calls

with locally salient issues. This is recommended for all future calls;

Technical capacities of GPs, especially in the areas of monitoring, learning and reporting,

continues to be weak despite past capacity strengthening interventions. Before the

implementation of any capacity building activities in phase two, a detailed review should be

undertaken of the effectiveness of STAR-Ghana, and other actors’ previous capacity building

strategies with a view to identifying constraints to uptake and institutionalisation of capacity.


18 STAR-Ghana 2016

10.0 Key Priorities for next Quarter A detailed Workplan is attached as Annex 20. Key priorities include:

Grants

Conclusion of the call processes for the Media and GESI calls and award of grants;

Learning

Elections Learning event;

Monitoring & Learning

Finalisation baseline;

Quarterly monitoring visit

External review and close-up of Elections call projects;

Governance

Consortium retreat

Resolution of governance issues (FC/SC)

Implementation of Transition Roadmap;

Entity work stream for the quarter – cast statement etc

Programme Management

Annual Programme audit

Embedding PEA approach…

Start-up of the Parliamentary workstream;

Finalisation of implementation phase strategies;

Project audits;

Annual review by DFID

11.0 Annexes

1. Annex 1: STAR-Ghana Status of Implementation of Workplan

2. Annex 2: STAR-Ghana List of SC Transition Advisory Group

3. Annex 3: STAR-Ghana Media and GESI Call Framework

4. Annex 4: STAR-Ghana GESI Scoping Study

5. Annex 5: STAR-Ghana GESI Call Adverts

6. Annex 6: STAR-Ghana GESI Call Guidance Notes

7. Annex7: STAR-Ghana GESI Call Assessment Templates

8. Annex 8: STAR-Ghana Media Scoping Study

9. Annex 9: STAR-Ghana Media Call Adverts

10. Annex 10: STAR-Ghana Media Call Guidance Notes

11. Annex11: STAR-Ghana Media Call Assessment Templates

13. Annex 12: STAR-Ghana Draft Discussion Paper on Land Grabbing and Galamsey

14. Annex 13: STAR-Ghana Media Tracking Sheet

15. Annex 14: STAR-Ghana Programme Flier

16. Annex 15: STAR-Ghana CoPL Implementation Workplan


19 STAR-Ghana 2016

17. Annex 16: STAR-Ghana Report on SMS Voices Implementation

18. Annex 17: STAR-Ghana List of Beneficiaries - Supplementary Grant Budget

19. Annex 18: STAR-Ghana Updated Assets Inventory Register

20. Annex 19: STAR-Ghana Service Provider Database

21. Annex 20: STAR-Ghana Detailed Quarterly Workplan

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